


undeterred; not discouraged or dissuaded

by weatheredlaw



Category: Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, F/F, Femslash, lady!bruce, lady!rhodes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-20
Updated: 2012-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 12:54:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatheredlaw/pseuds/weatheredlaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>firm in purpose or belief; characterized by firmness and determination; a resolute and unshakeable faith</p>
            </blockquote>





	undeterred; not discouraged or dissuaded

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hegemony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hegemony/gifts).



> i sort of wrote this for hegemony, who allowed me to beta her sequel to "a box step suite" and we had a brief discussion about femslash bruce/rhodey and here is something because i ship almost everything.

I don’t just want  
your heart  
I want your flesh,  
your skin  
and blood and bones,  
your voice, your thoughts  
your pulse  
and most of all your  
fingerprints,  
everywhere.  
\-- Isobel Thrilling, "Lover"

 

It is something quick, the first time, a flurry of touches and kisses in the dark of Bryce's room, while outside there is the clatter of plates and forks and Tony's voice, high and like a song, crawling through the door. Rhodey presses in tight, her fingers in Bryce's mouth, making obscene noises as they move over tongue, across lips. She pulls them out, slips them between Bryce's legs, and fingers her slowly.

" _Fuck--_ "

"Shh!" 

It isn't a secret, doesn't _have_ to be a secret -- but they both know what Tony would think. 

"What do you want?" Rhodey's voice is hot on Bryce's ear, her tongue flicking out, tracing the shell. "What do you want from me?"

"I need -- _fuck_ \-- I _want_ to--"

"I know, baby. I know what you want." She grinds her hand against Bryce's clit and she comes, biting down on Rhodey's shoulder, shout muffled by her thick blouse. Rhodey pulls her fingers out, brings them to her mouth, and cleans them, painfully slow. "You go first, go talk to Steve in the corner. I'll follow."

"But you--"

"Later." She drops a quick kiss on Bryce's lips and pushes her out the door. 

If Tony ever notices, he doesn't say a thing.

 

 

If they're in love, it isn't so obvious. Bryce is never in one place for very long and sometimes Rhodey is just _there_ , swaggering along the edge of a base in Jakarta, drinking espresso at four in the afternoon and waving the guards away when Bryce limps past security, pass in hand. 

"What'd you do to yourself this time?" she asks, peeling off a shirt that's so filthy it could stand on its own, the pits and back yellow, with brown, dried-blood streaks running down the shoulders.

"Oh, you know. Arson, aiding and abetting, stealing, sordid lesbian affairs with a certain wealthy man's curvy daughter. That sort of thing." Bryce slips into a tub of warm water.

"Was she pretty?" Rhodey murmurs, drawing wet fingers over her breasts, touching the crown of her head. Bryce smiles.

"Almost as pretty as you."

 

 

Tony is not so _un_ clever. It was never supposed to be something he couldn't know, shouldn't know. It was always just none of his business. The problem is Tony makes everything his business and he knows Rhodey better than he knows himself, which was always the problem when it started.

"Don't know why you thought I wouldn't figure it out."

"I was testing your detective skills. Well done, Inspector Stark."

"Bryce is emotionally unstable, prone to rapid-fire mood swings, and has no sense of self-respect."

Rhodey shakes her head and finishes her drink. "Gee. She sure sounds a lot like you."

Tony falters, mouthing at the edge of his glass of scotch and then grinning.

"Explains a lot."

 

 

"Do you know," Rhodey murmurs, her lips mouthing against the top of Bryce's head, "that I think you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen?"

Bryce yawns. "You said that last month."

"Mmm, that's because it's true."

"The novelty will wear off, eventually. You won't be so fond of me next time."

"Why? Are you planning on scaring me off?"

Bryce laughs and leans up, kissing Rhodey's chin. "No. It's just the way of things."

"It's not my way." Rhodey tightens her hold around Bryce's waist, draws her in flush. "You see, I'm different."

Bryce hums, that tiny sound she makes when she's happy, sated and content. Rhodey puts it away with all the other hums, the other stifled moans and laughs and the sobbing, pleading noises Bryce makes when Rhodey's face is between her thighs, when her fingers are in her mouth. 

_I am so very fond of you._

 

 

Rhodey realizes all too late -- she's never seen Bryce change. Her War Machine armor is heavy on her joints and she is frozen, immobile and lost, as she watches Bryce step onto the street, close her eyes, and _ripple._

_do i terrify?_

She will dream about it later, when she's alone, when she's grasping Bryce close to her chest, when they are naked and fluid and moving together, Bryce's tongue on her clit, her entire mouth swallowing her whole. She will imagine what it took to become the thing that Bryce _is_ , and she will be desperate to forget what she saw.

"I love you," she says. "I really, really do."

 

 

In retrospect, maybe that was not such a wise confession to make.

 

 

_you are perfect, there is nothing wrong with you. i am a disease, i infect and destroy.  
i'm sorry, it wasn't your fault. i'll be back in the spring.  
\--b_

 

 

"This is why it was a bad idea," Tony says.

"You've been waiting to say that."

"I've been dreading saying that," he corrects, and Rhodey knows it's true. "She'll come back and she'll know you're supposed to be together."

"Maybe I won't take her back," Rhodey drawls.

Tony smiles. "You will."


End file.
